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Devil's Golf Course |
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Badwater | |
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Furnace Creek | |
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Stovepipe Wells |
| Devil's Golf Course |
| The Devil's Golf Course is in the middle of the Death Valley floor: towering columns of salt, some two feet tall, stretch for what seem like miles. Rapid evaporation of salt-laden ground water draw these strange rock hard formations from the ground. The salt is very hard and is sharp as broken glass. |
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Pictures (click on picture for larger view) |
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 Field of salt crystals (18-24" high) |
 Tiny mountain ranges of salt (very sharp!) |
 Closeup of salt crystals |
 Tiny crater of salt crystals (4" wide) |
| Badwater |
| At 282ft below sea level, the Badwater area is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and one of, if not the hottest place on earth, with summer temperatures exceeding 120 degrees F ( 50 degrees C). The shallow pools at Badwater are the remnants of lake Manly, once a six hundred foot deep lake that stretched for a hundred miles or more. To the west is Telescope Peak and the Panamint Range -- at 11,049 ft (3,368 meters) the highest peak in Death Valley National Park. |
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Pictures (click on picture for larger view) |
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 Low point of the trip (literally!) |
 Martha, Erhard, Bob & Carol |
 Badwater & Telescope Peak (11,000' difference in elevation) |
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| Furnace Creek |
| Furnace Creek was
the center for the twenty-mule-team borax wagons that operated between Death Valley and Mojave from 1884 to 1889. The route ran from the Harmony Borax Mining Company works, later acquired by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, to the railroad loading dock in Mojave over 165 miles of mountain and desert trail. A round trip required 20 days. The ore wagons hauled a payload of twenty four tons.
New borax discoveries near Barstow ended the Mojave shipments in 1889.
Today, Furnace Creek contains several resorts, as well as the main Visitor Center for Death Valley National Park. There is also a museum with many artifacts from the borax mining days. |
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Pictures (click on picture for larger view) |
 Twenty mule team wagon |
| Stovepipe Wells |
| Located 23 miles from Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells is located near many Death Valley attractions, such as the sand dunes and Mosaic Canyon. |
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Pictures (click on picture for larger view) |
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 Furnace Creek sunset looking east |
 Furnace Creek sunset looking west |
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